Reflected Darkness: What Lies Within
---- Approximately six months had passed since the beginning of training for Sōka, she now had a firm grasp of chakra control, and basic techniques with her nature types. She was meditating in a field, when she heard the sound of boots... On the ground, she paid it no mind, since Keshin should've been somewhere around there... There was a small boy, dressed in an ice blue uniform appeared, he had a... Tail? Sōka was on her guard as the man appeared out of seemingly nowhere. He looked around the open field with cautious eyes, once he deemed it as safe, he emerged from the shadows. "Keshin Amanojaku?" the man asked. "Are you Keshin Amanojaku?" he asked again, looking directly at Sōka. "N-No, I'm afraid not..." she said to the man, hoping that this answer would satisfy him, and he would move on... But painfully this proved not to be the case, as he walked from the brush, he sniffed the air. "But you smell exactly like the cloth that I have here..." he shown Sōka the cloth piece, it was of Keshin's cloak, how did it get into his possession? "W-What the..." Sōka asked him, looking at him with bewilderment. "W-Why're you looking for Keshin?" Sōka demanded to know from the shinobi that stood in front of her. "Well I have a scroll I was suppose to deliver..." the shinobi replied. ---- Having wandered off earlier, Keshin had left Sōka behind to meditate while he took care of something. It had been three whole months since his last frenzy; yes, he was still unfortunately bound to the nature he had been born with. After going off on his own, he had wiped out a small village to keep himself sane. As he made his way back, he began to question what he had done, but was interrupted when he heard a strange-looking boy say his name. "What about me?" A raspy voice asked from behind the boy. Keshin, the boy's apparent target had appeared behind him. With Muramasa in hand, he readied himself. While he might have looked relaxed, Keshin was actually ready to counter anything and everything that this...thing may try to throw at him. "What do you want from me? And how do you have that?" Keshin was a bit confused about how the thing had managed to acquire a piece of his cloak. ---- The man, who looked to be in his late teens, looked up to Keshin, with a shudder. "Well, we were hired to bring you this scroll..." he had reached into his pocket, hauling out a scroll, then one finger lit up with his chakra, then he said "Ice Lock Seal... Release!" then the seal disappated, revealing a small fold in which Keshin could open the scroll, and read the insides of the scroll. "Enjoy your day, Sir." the shinobi smiled at him, then turned tail, walking back into the cover of the forest. Sōka looked at Keshin, then to the scroll. "Well? What does it say?" she demanded from him. ---- Opening the papery thing up, he began to read, and then pick out the important bits for Sōka. "Something about a Kojimo Clan still being alive...hey, your last name is Kojimo, funny. And that they are located in some place called 'Hyōkaigakure'; the Village Hidden in Sea Ice, I guess." Reading all the way to the bottom, he added. "And apparently, you are wanted there...I don't even know why this scroll was delivered to me." ---- "Kojimo Clan..?" Sōka blinked a few times, making sure that she processed that right, it brought her back to that night, she shook her head, taking the scroll herself, reading it over slowly, then once more just to be sure. Sōka looked up at Keshin, the happiest smile was on her face, almost dancing as her eyes were. "M-May we go!? I promise to train really hard if we do!" Sōka exclaimed to Keshin. ---- Keshin simply shrugged, he always felt overwhelmed when Sōka suddenly got happy like this. "I mean...no reason not to, I guess." While he was rather skeptical about the whole thing, the boy, the possession of his cloak, and the delivery of the scroll, he didn't think they would run into anything he couldn't take care of. "Yeah, that's fine." He concluded. ---- Sōka gleefully began to hop up and down in place. "Yes! Yes! Finally, I'd be reunited with my family!" Sōka looked at Keshin, her eyes telling him she wanted to leave now. So, she took his hand, and brought him to the camp site. They took to the roads, a smile was plastered on Sōka's face, a smile so wide, that you could probably see it a mile off. She kept humming a happy tune, while nature around her was buzzing, the birds singing, bees buzzing, the sunlight hitting her in just the right way her her horns would even feel warmth, glancing back to Keshin. "What was next on the training schedule?" Sōka had asked Keshin, a hint of playfulness in her tone. ---- It was true, he had been slacking a bit on Sōka's training. "Eh, I'm not exactly sure I can train you while we are on the way to see your family...Why don't you focus on one thing at a time, k?" Keshin's gaze would fall to the pair of horns that Sōka sported; he admired them, but also had questions. "Do you think they'll all have horns like you?" He teased, prodding the curious outcrops. ---- Sōka looked at Keshin, instinctually pulling her head back in defense of her horns. "Don't. Do. That." she glared at him, then clearing her throat. "I'm not sure what to expect..." Sōka had tried to remember what her fellow clansmen had looked like, but the memories in her mind were fuzzy. "I can't really remember, but! I'm sure they will, I mean, they're my clan, they should look like me, right?" Sōka had smiled, pondering about how the events would unfold. She then remembered training... "Keshin... er... Senpai-" she always hated calling him that, seeing that twinkle of satisfaction he had when she said it, "we need to train, you've even said yourself I'm nowhere strong enough to really handle myself..." she had looked to her feet in a way you'd expect a little girl coming into a school for the first time, "You said I need to get stronger, so we need to train. What's next on the agenda?" her tone was a little more demanding than usual, probably from the newfound stress of having a family again. ---- Looking down at Sōka, he eyed her face. She seemed much more serious then she had earlier. Maybe she felt like she needed to be up to their standards; it was a ninja village, after all. "Well, you've seen my Psychokinesis, I'm sure." He started. "So, since you have an affinity for Yin, I could probably teach you it..." In reality, Keshin was a bit envious of Sōka being able to find her family and a place she belonged. He had always been alone, and didn't really have anyone besides her. But with his clan being somewhat scattered, and him being the way he was, it was hard for Keshin to find a group to accept him. His thoughts drifted off to his old village, and how he had destroyed it. But before remorse could take over, he was brought back to reality by the warmth of Sōka's hand as he squeezed it. "Want me to teach you?" Keshin asked, a smile on his face. ---- "Yes!" Sōka flashed a smile at Keshin. "I'll be able to poke you with sticks without you knowing I'm around." she chuckled, before cracking her knuckles. "Let's start." ---- Guiding her off of the road, he plopped down onto the grass. Sitting in a cross-legged fashion, he reached out with his right hand. As he did, a twig slowly floated to his hand. "Your chakra can become an extension of your will; especially Yin chakra." He began, now grabbing the twig. "You must learn to focus your chakra around a distant object, and bend it with your will. Remember what I taught you previously about chakra control, and put it to use." ---- Several days later... Keshin and Sōka had entered the Land of Brine, and like its name suggests, it was wet. The land they traversed was cold and wet from winter. Looking over at Sōka, he saw her breath turn to a cloud of frigid, wispy oxygen. "You getting cold?" He asked with a smile as he hugged her to his side. "It did just start feeling like winter all of a sudden, didn't it?" ---- Sōka had nodded, the snow gently landed on her skin, melting almost immediately upon contact. She looked to Keshin. "It sure did, really cold now." she giggled, before looking around. "W-Which way to the village?" she asked, having figured out that they've been blindly walking to the Land of Brine, without directions. "D-Did you ever hear of the village? What was it again..." Sōka had trouble remembering the name it said on the scroll. ---- Keshin himself had forgotten; his thought had been elsewhere. The village they were traveling to was of minimum importance to him. Rather, he was much more focused on finding a ship, or some other means of transportation they could take to the Akuzura Empire. "Uh, lemme check the scroll." He replied as he reached into his cloak for the paper. Opening the scroll, he gave it a quick read before putting it back in his cloak. "Hyōkaigakure." He said. Looking around at the surrounding landscape, he took in the bright white that covered...well...everything. "It's really pretty out here, though." Keshin said as he watched the snow drift down to the ground. ---- Sōka nodded to herself. Sighing in fustration at the thought of not being able to find the village. She looked at the landscape, far off in the distance there are gargantuan mountains shaped as giant fangs that look to pierce the very heavens. Gazing around more, she saw a distant forest that looked to cover a section of the nation. The trees were scraping the heavens, as they too were large like the mountains, but of smaller scale, the trees were daunting as the branches loomed over the earth surrounding it, frosted with snow with the brown of the wood barely visible to her eyes. The wind howled as flurries of snow began to whip around the environment, like a wolf on the hunt for prey. "What about there?" there was a hesitation in her voice, looking at this forest even from a distance put a primal fear in the back of her mind, she looked to Keshin her wide blue eyes that shined were dulled with the fear overtaking her. "D-Do ya' think that's where Hy-Hyōkaigakure is?" Sōka stuttered out the words coating the fear with false bravado. ---- Keshin, seeing his lover's fear, smiled sympathetically. "Does that scare you?" He asked, poking her horns as he did. "Did you pick up on something with-" He, however, was cut short by the sudden presence of another soul. It was close; he brought his hands away from Sōka's horns, and scanned the surrounding landscape. The actual location of this Konkaku wasn't clear, but something was definitely off. His visual prowess revealed itself; shining purple. From there, things picked up. Two shuriken with amazing precision came flying towards Keshin; a rudimentary attempt on Keshin's life. He simply watched them, observing the blades spin. He loked as if he were calculating the exact speed tha they were moving at, how fast the projectile was speeding, and when it would reach him. He seemed to be carefully planning his next move. Wrong... Keshin was just amazed that someone would attack him in such a manner. He simply extended his left hand out, right before the shuriken would reach him, and released a blast of psychokinetic energy. The twin projectiles would be sent flying off course, and would clatter to the ground nearly two-hundred meters away. "Show yourself." He mutered, not for his aggressor to hear, but to himself; curious. -- A Man appeared, seemingly materializing out of thin air. His right eye and part of his face was covered with a mask. His black garments and giant black sword about the size of his torso, shined illustriously as the sunlight peering from the clouds hit him, his face was serious, his eye rested on Keshin with curiousity. "Able to defend such an attack, without hearing the shuriken?" the Man gruffawed loudly, then calmed his demeanour, his eye never swaying from Keshin. Yes... This will be a headache... Sai thought to himself, as he calculated his next move. ---- Sōka was astonished, that Keshin knew the attack was coming, even with her horns being sensitive to air currents and small vibrations within the air knew something was off, but she couldn't quite put her finger to it. "W-Who is that?" Sōka asked, observing the man, she was wondering what he could have wanted with them. Her gaze lifted from the Man to Keshin, a worried look in her eyes. "S-Shouldn't he be scared?" Sōka asked, even with the man standing there she was afraid; afraid that someone who held a confidence to simply show themselves to their enemy meant that they were capable in some way, shape, or form. Sōka tensed herself up, readying herself in case the man were to make a move. ---- The Man bowed slightly towards them, a smirk overtaking him as he did. "Simply refer to me as Sect, hence you need not know of who I am just yet." he chuckled to himself, clearly amused with the two. "I know of you-" he raised his hand geasturing towards Keshin, "and of you." he geastured to Sōka in an exaggerated fashion. "Here so soon..." he muttered, then shook his head, clearly pondering on something. ---- While Keshin wasn't one who was quick to brag, he knew he could overpower this man before him. He analyzed the man with his Sharingan, and discovered that he possessed little chakra. "Just like me..." He thought as he continued to peer at the curious specter. "I wonder if he uses an alternative to chakra." He scanned the man over and over, each time taking notice of the "little" things that would be considered irrelevant by most. But if someone were to act so bold, surely they had a plan. Keshin decided he should close off his enemie's way of escape, firstly. To do this, he bended the shadow of his aggressor into a black sphere. This sphere enveloped him, surrounding him on all sides. Then, he used the energy within the shadow to use his most devastating attack by forming several rods within the sphere. The blast from the technique would be localized to the area of the sphere alone. Furthermore, Keshin powered his technique with Konkaku, to assure his enemy could not absorb it. With the forming of a few hand signs, the attack would commence, hopefully destroying the target. ---- With the sphere encasing Sai, he Sai-ghed when he was 'trapped', with a few hand seals, he used the Substitution Jutsu he prepared moments earlier. Then at the last second, he felt the rods materializing beinning to tear through his clothing, as he activiated the Jutsu, he replaced himself with a snow-covered log. Appearing just behind Sōka, with his blade to her lower back, studying her horns, with a sadistic smile. ---- Sōka froze, feeling the tip of the blade touch her bare back, the blade burned like fire was coursing through it, leaving her skin pink. She swallowed hard, not sure of what to do. ---- While under normal circumstances, such a move would leave Keshin frozen in fear for his lover, there was one thing the mysterious man had overlooked, something crucial; that sphere was his shadow. Meaning, that as soon as he changed positions, he would be enveloped yet again in his own darkness. The sphere was being manipulated by Keshin's Konkaku; with this in mind, he used his Evocation of Dismantling Wind around it. This swallowed his own attack in a wind that would scatter all chakra. However, Keshin's technique remained unfazed; this was due to his technique being powered by Konkaku alone. The wind flew through and around the construct, to prevent Sai from activating anything in response. Then, within the sphere, shadowy spikes would converge together on the man. Keshin was unable to clearly see the man, he could only visualize his soul. This made it hard for him to clearly hit a vital spot. To compensate, he had spikes come from all directions, and began to compress the sphere to restrict his opponent's move. ---- Sai tensed up as the Shadow Rogation spikes hit his body, but, as he had an extensive knowledege of the human anatomy, he was able to shift his body in the moments of him keeping an eye for his vitals. But it still hurt like hell. The spikes were like tiny pike impaling him, he looked at the tiny needles that filled his body. Tch. Now he had a reason to kill Keshin, but it would have to wait. As the barrier fell, and the jutsu released, Sai stood still as a statue, leaking blood from tiny pinpricks that trailed his frame, he kept his breath stable as to keep calm, so he wouldn't lose too much blood. ---- 'His chakra and Konkaku control is incredible, as I feared his reputation as the Masked Terror stands...'' Sai thought to himself, as he thought about the multitude of moves he could make, altough restricted. He was able to foresee my attack, come up with a counter-strategy within mere instants, with me holding his beloved hostage with my weapon... Quite the skilled shinobi. Sai knew his little game was up, he knew he should've fought with the intent to kill, but then again it's better to live and fight another day, with yet another plan delicately constructed to hatch another game. "Hmm..." The Man giggled with giddy. "I see it as though you have me in check, Sir..." his voice became harsh as if he had metal grinding in his throat as he pushed back his pride to say the words that tasted sour upon his tongue like bitter berries, he scowled at Keshin but Sai was just a statue stuck in time. "You've done well, but I've gotten a sense of what you're capable of... You've sensed me which was quite alright, but you have some work to do before you're strong enough to actually defeat me..." he retorted in response to the subtle attack Keshin had shown, but now he knew his game was over. ---- If Keshin wasn't watching, in an instant a medium sized creature darted out from nearby shrubbery, at blinding speeds, collecting Sai from Keshin's trap, then in the same motion, both of them turned to a dust like substance, drifting away from the two. ---- Sōka exhaled from the sudden disappearance of the Man, she felt as though she knew him from somewhere yet she couldn't put her finger on it. She thought about it all, the letter, that Man's sudden appearance, it all seemed off to her. ---- "W-What just happened?" Sōka implored as her eyes laid on Keshin, thinking that since he was teaching her, maybe he had some sort of explaination for the events that just unfolded before them. ---- "Nothing really." Keshin replied in a rather happy tone. "It seemed like he might have been using some sort of Senjutsu to escape...I didn't pick up on any chakra being used." Staring off into the space that the man had beenonly moments ago, he became lost in thought for a moment. Shaking himself awake, he turned to face Sōka. "You ok though?" Keshin smiled, jokingly patting her rear-end as he spoke. ---- "Y-Yeah... I'm fine..." Sōka admitted, altough she was a red hue, since she was embarassed that she was completely useless in that encounter. "I wish I could've done something though..." she pouted, as she looked at Keshin, her eyes shining brightly. "W-Was he strong?" Sōka had asked Keshin. ---- "No." Keshin said in his completely honest opinion. He wasn't one to brag, but that was how he saw it. "I'm sure if he hadn't been cheap and came from behind, you could have taken him on your own." ----